


White Day

by MemoryDragon



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: But this plot would not leave me alone, Chocolate, Crack, Fluff, Gen, I hate Valentines Day, Japanese customs, Mem is terrible at writing Five, Slightly Slashy, There are tentacle monsters, Valentines Day Fic, Warm Fuzzies, Zen gardens, b_e anon fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-19
Updated: 2010-10-19
Packaged: 2017-11-17 13:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/552225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MemoryDragon/pseuds/MemoryDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Master doesn't appreciate being pulled to Kyoto in 1910 by the Doctor. He doesn't appreciate being forced to celebrate primitive holidays either, but at least he got a very nice view for his troubles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	White Day

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe I'm actually admitting to writing this, but there it is... This was originally written for the Best Enemies Anonymous Kink Meme and I had every intention of keeping this anonymous, but it grew on me, I suppose.  
>  **Disclaimer:** I do not own Doctor Who, nor do I make any claim to.  
>  **Warnings:** There's a tentacle monster, but other than that just a heck of a lot of crack and warm fuzzies that I'm rather ashamed of. Also, I suppose you could say there's a bit of slash to it, but I maintain it's a fairly innocent exchange of friend/enemy-ship. So look for slash if you want it, if not, take it for what it is. And for a prompt from a kink meme, it's also very much without any sex, so don't fear about the prompt. It is, as I stated, rather innocent.  
>  **Original Prompt:** _How do the Master and the Doctor celebrate Valentine's Day? Hearts and flowers? Galactic Empires and blasters? Handcuffs and dildos?_  
>  **Author's Thanks:** Many thanks (and curses) to Cyropi for not only setting up my downfall into writing this, but insisting I write it as well. Not to mention betaing it and making it a thousand times better. Thanks and curses go to the writer of the prompt for giving me the rabid plot bunny in the first place.  
>  **Cultural notes:** Here's a few cultural notes about Japan, since I'm assuming not everyone is a fan of Japanese anime/culture. If you are, you can probably go ahead and skip on to the story, since this will be nothing new to you.
> 
> In Japan and most Asian countries, Valentine's Day is not the big date night, lovey-dovey occasion it is here. That's actually reserved for Christmas. On Valentine's day, the girls make chocolate for the guys. That stated, there are three different 'kinds' of chocolates that girls give. Giri-choko, or obligation chocolate, is given to co-workers or classmates that you either don't like or feel like you have an obligation to give chocolate to. This is usually store bought, without a lot of thought put in. Honmei-choko (favorite chocolate) is homemade chocolate with a lot of effort put in, usually reserved for the 'special' guy. Finally, tomo-choko, or friend chocolate, is chocolate that girls give to their other girl friends.
> 
> Once the guys have received their chocolates, they have a month until "White Day" to get a reply gift. Men are expected to get return gifts that are twice or even three times more expensive, and some traditional White Day gifts are marshmallows, white chocolate, jewelery, or white lingerie. XD
> 
>  **Originally Posted:** Oct. 19, 2010

The Master wasn't exactly pleased to get an invitation from a certain enemy to come to the late 1970's in Tokyo, Earth. He'd been busy making a mass destruction super weapon on a planet a few galaxies over and a few hundred years in the past, which was going quite well without the Doctor's interference. At least until the local population became dead set on executing him, but the Master had just about squashed that rebellion when the reactor for the weapon started to act up... Okay, so maybe it was a good idea to just leave the planet for dead now and maybe reappear in a thousand years or so after the nuclear winter settled to try again. Regardless, the Master's pride told him he had things completely under control and that the Doctor's message was an annoyance, not an excuse to high tail it out of a sticky situation. 

The Master wasn't exactly pleased when he found that the Doctor wasn't, in fact, in Tokyo in 1978, but rather in Kyoto 1910. It took him an hour to find where in the time stream the Doctor's TARDIS had landed after he realized that the other Time Lord wasn't at the specified place and time. If the Doctor was going to send out a message for a meeting and pull the Master away from his own very important plots, the _least_ his enemy could do was get the coordinates right. Even for a rickety old type 40 TARDIS, the man ended up in the wrong place more than any other Time Lord the Master knew of. 

The Master was _immensely_ amused, however, to eventually find the Doctor attempting to break away from the hold of what the nerds of Earth would later call a "hentai tentacle monster". He found out later that it was the pet guard dog of some inconsequential alien with delusions of grandeur for conquering the universe after being stranded on this backwater planet for punishment of its equally inconsequential crimes. It was, from what the Master understood, a very dull plan and just a little embarrassing for one who was much more knowledgeable in such matters. If he were more the sort to care, he might have given the aforementioned alien some painfully needed pointers, but that would require the Master to care about a potential (if extremely unlikely) rival for universal domination. Thankfully, he didn't care. 

Besides which, it was much more interesting to watch the Doctor squirm and squeak as the brainless tentacle monster occasionally got a little too fresh with him. The Master hadn't said a word as he came in, instead standing back enough to keep out of the tentacles' reach while still being close enough to see the blush the Doctor was fighting to keep from his cheeks. He'd been seen, of course, but the other Time Lord was hoping the Master would give him more dignity than simply staring at his plight. The Doctor gave it a few minutes of hoping the velvet clothed man would show some mercy. 

Finally he realized he would get no such thing from the Master and coughed politely. When that met with no reply, the Doctor gave in completely and attempted to salvage the remains of his pride by falling back on righteous anger. "Master," he said, his voice raising to a slight squeak on the last syllable as a tentacle wrapped around his upper thigh. 

"My dear Doctor," the Master responded amiably, eyes slowly moving down the length of that tentacle. He didn't say anything more, but then he didn't need to. The Doctor's blush got deeper on its own. 

Once again, the Doctor waited impatiently for his long time enemy to say something, but not for nearly as long. The Master was in one of _those_ moods and the man always enjoyed being difficult. Besides, this regeneration of the Doctor was so exquisitely expressive. Anger, frustration, righteous outrage, fury and outright disbelief at some of the atrocities the Master willingly committed, and some times, very rarely, despair as a life he'd promised to save was destroyed right in front of him. The latter being an expression the Master particularly relished, though right now in the Doctor's current state of mused blond hair and eyes showing a mix between embarrassment, anger and pleading was definitely delectable as well. 

"Would you please just get me out of this?" the blond half-demanded, finally breaking down and dismissing what remained of his pride in favor of escape. 

Raising an eyebrow, the Master pretended to carefully think over the situation while in reality he was merely drawing out the moment in hopes that his rival would resort to begging. He did so enjoy it when the Doctor was at his mercy. "Is that why you called me to this miserable planet?" he asked, making no move to free the other Time Lord just yet. 

"Well - no." Surprisingly, the Doctor was now having problems meeting his eyes. This was getting even more interesting by the minute. "I just had something I wanted to give-muffmgh!" A tentacle passing over the Doctor's face interrupted him as the man tried to unsuccessfully raise his hand to bat the offending limb away. It eventually moved away on it's own accord, leaving that blond mop of hair even more mussed. "I really would appreciate it if you saved the questions for after you got me out of this, please." 

"Since you asked nicely." The megalomaniac was almost loath to do so, considering the Doctor's blue eyes were so beautiful with that panicked pleading as a stray tentacle started fondling his ass. However, he did want to find out why the Doctor had asked him here and it was readily apparent that the man wasn't going to give him any further information until he'd been freed. So free the Doctor he must, though the Master did wait for one more ever so delightful squeak as a tentacle brushed past the Time Lord's more sensitive parts. He could always trap the Doctor again later, potentially with a slightly more intelligent (but just as tentacled) minion. 

Raising his hand dramatically, the Master didn't even bother with his usual line about obedience to him. Such words were wasted on such a small brain that only understood basic commands. "Let him go," he commanded, sending a psychic nudge along as well after it hesitated trying to make sense of the instructions. 

The brief flash of fury in the Doctor's eyes almost made up for the lack of pleading now, as he finally managed to detangle himself from the last of the now limp and still tentacles. "Was mind control really necessary?" 

"It's hardly intelligent enough to make use of its free will. Would you rather I have used force and potentially hurt it?" Once again, the Doctor proved to be a good source of personal entertainment, sputtering beautifully in self-righteous anger. The Master simply smirked, silently debating using the tentacle monster to make the other Time Lord give another surprised squeak. "Now, you were saying earlier? I do have a super weapon to attend to if you're finished." 

The Doctor glared, another lovely expression, but wisely left well enough alone. What's done was done and without too much harm inflicted, which for once gave him nothing to argue about. "I'm not sure I want to give it to you if you're working on a super weapon..." 

Shrugging, the Master turned to leave with over dramatic flair. He wasn't concerned with conforming to the constricting morals the Doctor was so obsessed with and certainly wasn't going to change his ways just to make the Doctor feel better about his conscience. He hadn't gotten more than a meter, however, when the Doctor recanted. "Wait..." 

He turned back around with a raised eyebrow, met by the sight of the Doctor taking a deep breath to calm his temper. It was one of this regeneration's more endearing habits, though his forced smile wasn't his most attractive. Shoving one hand in his pocket, the Doctor pulled out a folded up handkerchief, heavy with some unknown object. He started to toy with it in his hand, opening it up briefly to check on it. "I don't know how much you know about Earth holidays but I just wanted to-" Cutting himself off, the Doctor looked positively crestfallen at whatever it was he saw in the handkerchief. He looked up, blue eyes crushed. "It... It broke! That... The tentacle monster must have crushed it." 

The Master gave a low chuckle, the sound vibrating richly in his throat. "I'm sure I can forgive it for the view it gave me. Now, are you going to hand it over or-" 

A scream cut him off, the unmistakable screech of that Traken girl when she was in trouble. The Doctor looked up, a worried expression on his face. "I should - Could you wait about an hour... make that two hours? I've got to save them." The Doctor was already taking off without waiting for a by-your-leave, before the Master could threaten to keep him there or not wait. 

The tentacle monster wriggled in the corner, waiting for more commands as the Master blinked after his long time rival. Well... Did he want to wait? He didn't know too much about the early 1900's in Japan, but he didn't exactly care enough to learn about it either. Despite his 'annoyance' for being pulled away, the Master couldn't exactly leave right now. Curiosity killed the Time Lord. Besides, he could probably use a creative break from that super weapon if just to come back to the reactor powered propulsion system with a fresh mind. No, he wasn't _giving up_ because he was obviously brilliant enough to get the plan working again. He just needed a small rest period. Yes, that sounded like a perfectly sound excuse, especially if a more promising prospect came along in the mean time. 

Leaving the tentacle monster to snack on the local population that came across its path, the Master walked down the road into the town proper. He quickly grew bored with the mismatched quality of Asian and Western cultures; women in kimonos with western shawls, men wearing hakama with a bowler hats, throwing away their cultural identity for modernization and trends. No one had any idea that this day was a holiday either, meaning the Doctor had probably goofed and ended up before whatever holiday he wanted to celebrate existed. Walking a bit from the town, he found a small temple on the outskirts which was more promising. He could always start a cult, come back in a few hundred years when technology was more prominent and lay waste to the Doctor's favorite planet. That did have a very pleasing ring to it, not to mention he hadn't done a cult in a while. There was just something satisfying to have loyal fanatics hanging on one's every whim and willing to throw their lives away on the sole basis of a promise of eternal redemption. 

He entertained a few of those notions and was half convinced to act on them when he saw the rock garden. It was a simple enough concept for a primitive people, straight lines drawn across the sand with scattered rocks that broke the pattern. However, there was something peaceful and calming about the meticulously kept garden, without a single footprint or signature left by the artist. Beautiful, even. While he was far from prone to seek out places of serenity, the rock garden's simplicity had a strange hold over him. Sitting down on a bench, he contemplated the placement of the stones and their interruption of the neat, straight lines. It made him think of societal rules and hypocritical tradition, dull and constricting, but the rocks, oh the rocks. They were chaos embodiment, sparks of change that refused to give way, making their mark on the world. 

It was a good four hours that the Master sat there, waiting for the Doctor. It was so rare for him to have a moment of quiet, thinking of nothing but the perfect serenity of the temple grounds, that he almost jumped when he heard the Doctor's voice behind him. "I didn't expect to find you here." 

If the Doctor noticed his unusual state of not being prepared or aware, he didn't comment. Preferring to think that he had covered his surprise rather than the other Time Lord merely being polite, the Master shrugged with nonchalance. "If you're finished wasting my time, I do have other matters to attend to rather than a late rival." 

"I'm sorry about the wait," the Doctor said, at least with a properly abashed expression, which quickly turned sour as he went on. "It took longer to save Nyssa and Tegan, especially since you just left that monster there to terrorize people." 

"My dear Doctor, you also left _me_ alone to terrorize people. Most rational beings would proclaim me the greater of the two dangers." At that, the Doctor sighed, coming over to share the bench with his greatest enemy. There wasn't any point in arguing that, the other Time Lord knew. It didn't matter how much each of them wanted the other to conform to their ideals. It never usually stopped them from trying, but for once the Doctor was letting it slide instead of insisting on butting heads. 

It was quite uncharacteristic of this regeneration of the Doctor, to be honest. Enough so that the Master's curiosity was thoroughly aroused as he tilted his head, pointedly waiting for the other man to speak his mind. Unfortunately, the rock garden was now having the same mesmerizing effect on the Doctor as it had on the Master. "Nyssa and Tegan didn't understand this," he said quietly, eyes lingering over two of the rock formations that were closer together. "They thought a bunch of rocks in the sand was boring, but you see it, don't you? It's beautiful." 

That was, in fact, the same exact thought the Master had earlier, contemplating the complexities of the seemingly simple concept. For uncultured apes, the prominent life forms on this planet could occasionally prove their existence had been more than a cosmic oversight. However, it really wouldn't do to let the Doctor know he'd been thinking such things and he wasn't in the mood to agree with the sometimes insufferable blond, not when his curiosity had been denied this long and he was tempted to lose interest entirely. He summoned up a look of scorn and positively relished the hurt in that boyish face as he spoke again. "If you're quite finished admiring ape gardens, Doctor, I have a weapon to get back to. I'll thank you for not following me." 

"I don't know why I'm bothering to-" The Doctor cut himself off, taking a deep breath and holding it for five seconds before trying again, this time keeping his eyes closed as a weary, older expression took over his young features. "Just... Just wait, please. I wanted to give you this." 

Holding out a bundled up handkerchief expectantly, the Doctor finally opened his eyes but didn't meet his enemy's gaze. It was about time. With a low chuckle, the Master took offered truce with a velvet gloved hand, trying very hard not to act like a human child opening a present for that silly winter holiday that was so popular on this planet. It wouldn't do to let the Doctor know he'd been- 

"And this is supposed to be?" The Master prompted upon seeing the 'gift', not overly thrilled once his curiosity was finally sated. 

"It's chocolate," the Doctor replied, finally mustering up enough enthusiasm to look up at the Master, beaming softly at the small clump of sugar infused food. 

The Master's eyes narrowed at the heart shaped blob of brown in his hand. It had obviously broken in two and was stitched back together with a bit of chocolate frosting, nearly rendering the Gallefrayian lettering that spelled his name illegible. "I know that," the Master hissed. He had, after all, been trapped on this miserable backwater planet for quite some time, as the Doctor well knew since he'd been the one to steal the parts from the bearded man's TARDIS. He certainly knew what chocolate was, despite never feeling the need to try the sugary concoction before. He looked up and glared his rival down, once again enjoying the hurt in those blue eyes before continuing to put him down. "You brought me here for this? I have better things to be doing." 

The Doctor's blue eyes widened, self righteous anger reasserting itself before tears could properly form. Such a pity, that. The Doctor so rarely cried and the darker man would have taken immense pleasure in such a feat, but the kicked puppy dog look that the blond was attempting to cover up would have to suffice. "I brought you here because I thought... Never mind. I was foolish to think you might enjoy a simple holiday from another culture. I won't take up any more of your time." 

Standing up, the other Time Lord left with eyes blazing and the Master didn't lift a finger to stop him. He did, however, turn back just enough to see the very hurt expression that crossed the Doctor's face when he realized the bearded man was just going to let him storm off. Despite the annoyances, it had been worth it to come to Earth for seeing the Doctor. He really must get around to trapping the Doctor some time soon and tentacles were looking very appealing... 

Still, it left him with the very interesting proposition of what to do with the 'present'. Spitefully, he broke the chocolate straight along the original crack, completely undoing the Doctor's handiwork to fix it, then relented and decided to at least try the candy. It had to have been home made, to have his name written on it and he doubted the Doctor would try to poison him... This regeneration was far too straightforward for poison. 

Gingerly, he took a small bite of the chocolate, prepared to despise the food utterly. It was to his great surprise that the Master found he quite enjoyed the sensation of the cool chocolate slowly warming and melting into a velvety goo in his mouth. Usually he hated sweets (the reason for his avoiding chocolate in the first place) but there was something about the texture that left him both extremely sated and craving more at the same time. He bit off a little more of the dark sweet, then stared disdainfully at the residue it left on his gloves. Not a perfect dessert after all. 

Still, it was good enough to look into this... The Doctor never had said what the holiday was called and none of the humans around here knew what it was. But the Doctor had been off course and sixty years too early. February 14 was the current date, according to the locals, so it should just be easy enough to go forward a hundred or so years and see what the big deal was. Then he'd decide whether or not he should 'thank' the Doctor by destroying yet another world or simply write a note with some sort of hidden device to disrupt the TARDIS' telepathic translator and harken back to their academy days. 

* * * 

The Doctor was not, despite what Tegan frequently whispered to Nyssa behind his back, sulking. It wasn't like he'd wanted to make the chocolate in the first place. The girls were the ones who wanted to try it, after he'd mentioned the interesting ways in which the Japanese version of the holiday was different from the Western Valentine's Day. And Tegan, not caring that it was only women who gave chocolate on Valentine's Day in Asian countries and wanting someone who didn't talk about baking like chemistry with her, dragged him into the TARDIS kitchen to help them make chocolate that they were just going to give to him anyway. If he was going to be forced into making chocolate for Valentine's Day, it was only right that he made a bit for someone else, wasn't it? He also wanted to try the holiday, just once, since it did sound like fun and who could say no to chocolate? 

Which brought up the question of who to give the chocolate to. And what kind? The Japanese had several traditions on who and how to give chocolate. Giri-choko, honmei-choko, and tomo-choko... Well, since they were making the chocolate themselves, honmei-choko was a given, but that didn't mean obligation and/or friendship didn't come into the equation as well. Which led him into drawing the Master's name into the circle before he'd even realized what he was doing. Their relationship was just complicated enough to incorporate all three. 

He should have known better, however, than to expect the Master to actually accept the gift gracefully and potentially agree to learn a little about a different (even if a little more primitive) culture. He'd been naive and perhaps a little foolish to call the Master up and think he'd come out of the encounter unscathed. The bearded Time Lord always did enjoy hurting him, the Doctor reminded himself with no small amount of resentment and guilt. He should have remembered and not bothered. 

That didn't stop the Doctor from giving Nyssa and Tegan their White Day gifts roughly a month later. Nyssa got a key chain-sized electron microscope and DNA analyzer to help with her experiments and Tegan a simple heart-shaped locket with the words 'Brave Heart' written on the inside. It cheered him to see his gifts so well received, though that didn't stop him from checking Tokyo in March 1978 for the Master's presence. Then it was straight back into not-sulking. Still not giving up, however, the Doctor tried one more place, Kyoto on March 14, 1910. 

Unfortunately he was just as disappointed upon arriving in the zen gardens on the temple grounds. There was no Master here to greet him, which he should have (as he thought earlier) expected. Why would the Master even know about the White Day tradition? He hadn't exactly stuck around to explain things and it wasn't like the Time Lord renegade would care about a foolish Earth holiday, especially not if it might have meant something for the first time to him. The Doctor sat down on the bench dejectedly, staring at the rocks and trying not to feel like a sullen child about the encounter (or lack there of), in the same place where they'd both felt the beauty of the garden, despite how the Master had pushed it off. He sat there staring at the rocks not-sulking for about five minutes before he noticed a white box sitting atop the smaller of the two most prominent stones. A white box that looked suspiciously like a present... 

It couldn't be. The Doctor was sure he hadn't sensed the other Time Lord's presence anywhere or anywhen nearby. But who the devil else would put a present in the most annoying place possible? He did have a bit of string in his jacket and there was probably a stick near by that he could fish the present out without touching the patterns? But if the contents of the box were fragile? Confounded, impossible renegade. 

In the end, it took a few hours searching for the priest (who just happened to be absent from the temple at the time) to get proper permission to get to the box, which included messing up the lines that were so mesmerizing earlier, much to the Doctor's dismay. Still, the priest was nice about it, even offered to let him watch the remaking of the garden so that one couldn't even tell the Doctor had been there. 

He held the white box in his hands, toying with the ribbons that held the silky wrapping paper on the box. Just the sort of thing the Master would leave; no expense was spared, even on the wrapping paper. The Master was never one to leave even a small detail undone, unlike the Doctor who had a terrible habit of not only cutting corners, but being a little on the cheap side in some regenerations. The box had obviously been held by the Master, his mental signature readily available for the Doctor to read as if the man hadn't attempted to hide it. That worried him slightly, but so did the envelope that was attached to the box. Over all, however, the Doctor just felt happy. Despite his should-have-knowns, not-sulking, and genuine hurt at the Master's behavior, the other Time Lord had gone through the time and effort to research the holiday and its traditions. He smiled to himself, fingering the ribbon with a silent reminiscence. It was more of a sorrowful smile than happy, filled with wishful what ifs and painful reminders of the Master's true nature, but he was glad some things hadn't changed over the years. 

Retreating back to the TARDIS, he set the girls off at a 26th century millennium party held by a long time acquaintance whom the Doctor preferred to forget existed. He felt a little bad for using his companions to escape a social obligation he'd usually just ignore completely, but they both wanted to go to the party and it seemed harmless enough. And if it wasn't, he could always go back and rescue them later if they weren't able to escape themselves. Which left the Doctor to his own devices for a few hours, contemplating the box. It could be a bomb, or any number of ways the Master meant him mischief, but... It wouldn't hurt to look at the note, at least, would it? 

Opening the envelope, he was unsurprised to see the Master's fluid and precise handwriting, just a little pompous and self important, but admirably neat nonetheless. The message caused two blond eyebrows to raise and a small laugh to escape from the Doctor's throat. 

_I hope you realize that I have much better things to be doing than pandering to your whims with strange and ridiculous customs from a primitive race. Don't expect me to do this again and if you even think about attempting to drag me back for Christmas, I will find a new tentacle monster and leave you trapped with it. Enjoy the White Day Present._

\--The Master 

Smiling to himself at the man's continued insistence of hostility, the Doctor carefully picked at the wrapping paper for a few seconds before remembering there was no one around to watch and tore right in. His breath was caught in his chest when he finally unwrapped the present in its entirety. It was a intricately painted and beautifully made Japanese puzzle box. A blue Eastern dragon curled around the box's exterior, every scale a luminescent shade that shone in the TARDIS' lights, its eyes were the only thing that remained unpainted, reminiscent of the old Chinese story. It wasn't hard to picture the painted dragon flying away, not with that exquisite craftsmanship. It must have cost the Master a fortune to have this made... or a few less savory ways of getting it, but the Doctor hoped that the Master would have better taste than that when giving him a gift. 

However, this was a _puzzle_ box, which meant... was there something inside it as well? The Doctor thought back to what he knew of such devices, trying to remember if he'd ever actually come across one. They were supposed to hold some sort of charm, if he remembered correctly, but knowing the Master's craftiness it would probably also take him a while to figure it out. So without much further ado, the Doctor dove into the puzzle, pulling the sliding pieces in attempt to solve its mystery. 

Five hours later, an exhausted Nyssa and Tegan walked in, apparently none the worse for their encounter with prickly nobility. In fact, they had rather seemed to enjoy it, or would have seemed to enjoy it, had the Doctor actually paid them any attention as they walked in. Once they saw the puzzle in his hands, they both knew better than to even attempt talking to the Time Lord. Instead, Tegan shrugged and they both walked off with linked arms to change out of their dresses, still chatting about Nyssa's dance partner of the night. 

Two and a half hours after that, he finally solved the pattern and was carefully pulling each slide. The last thing he wanted to do was to accidentally jar it again and have to start all over once he'd forgotten where he was in the sequence! There were 297 moves in all and he was down to the... last... four... three... two and a half... There! HA! The Doctor was so pleased with himself when he heard the soft click that he beamed down at the box for a good minute or so before even attempting to lift the lid. 

"Well, aren't you going to open it then?" Tegan's voice sounded to his right, causing him to jump half a foot and nearly drop the precious box. Quickly, he checked it over to make sure it hadn't relocked itself with the plunge. 

His sigh of relief turned to a self righteous glare of annoyance which he turned full force on Tegan for startling him. "Do you have any idea of what you could have done, coming up behind-" 

"Oh, just open it up, already," Tegan interrupted him, staring impatiently down at the box and giving him the impression that she'd been watching for a decent length of time before speaking. Which meant Nyssa was at her experiments (probably with the new electron microscope) and the shorter haired girl had gotten bored? He was pleased to see her wearing the locket he'd given her, the gold standing out against the paleness of her skin. "You've been at it for hours. What's so important that you've got to hide it in a box like that? Though it is pretty." 

Huffing lightly, the Doctor feigned a wounded look. It didn't work for very long since it only sent Tegan giggling. "It's the challenge!" he said moodily, then finally settled for a slightly more patronizing expression. "It's not that the object was important, it's that it was an exhilarating effort to solve the problem it presented. Someone who is very clever made this, and I'll admit that the solution was something I should have seen an hour ago." 

Tegan was completely unimpressed and most of the thrill he felt went right over her head. "Are you going to open it or not?" 

Coughing lightly in reproach, he found that he really did want to know what the Master had put inside the box. Carefully, he opened the lid to find one of the last things he expected in such an ornately crafted box. A fresh stick of celery. "Is that it? Whoever gave it to you must be a loony!" Tegan said with no small amount of disappointment. 

The Doctor, on the other hand, felt his eyes widen slightly in recognition. It was oddly fitting, for a box that generally held charms. Not only that but- "A temporal dilator!" he exclaimed happily, turning the celery over to show the small device attached to the back. 

"A what?" 

"A temporal dilator." The Doctor cheerfully pinned the new stick of celery to his jacket, practically humming with pleasure and completely missing Tegan's annoyed glance. "It will slow the rate of the celery's decomposition to up to sixty percent longer! Now I won't have to change it out so often when it starts to wither." It really was very clever of the Master, the box, the celery, the temporal dilator all combined into one present. That didn't even go into the amount of research into the holiday that he must have done to get down every detail. Despite the Master not giving it to him in person, the Doctor felt the same sense of elation he had upon finding the other Time Lord in the rock garden that first time. Maybe they didn't always see eye to eye on... pretty much most everything, but there was still a bond that couldn't be severed. 

Shoving his hands happily into his pockets, the Doctor looked up to see the the exasperated look on his companion's face. "Whatever you say, Doc." 

He smiled at her fondly, then outright grinned boyishly. It was time for a trip in the TARDIS, one where he can show off his new accessory properly. "Have I ever taken you to the temples on Rogesh 3? They're made completely out of crystal right on the water front. A rather pompous design, but everyone should see them at least once in their life time. They're absolutely breath taking under the double moons in a winter frost that lasts from..." The Doctor babbled on, pulling levers and pressing buttons until the TARDIS gave a sicking lurch that meant they were off. Maybe one day when they weren't fighting to the death, he'd finally get the chance to thank his old friend for the effort and thoughtfulness of the gift with more chocolate. For right now, it was enough that the two Earth holidays had given him something special to treasure. Until next Valentine's Day... 

  
~Fin~

**Author's Note:**

> Memory: I think I'm going back to not admitting I wrote this, actually... No amount of recton might be enough to wipe this one from me...
> 
> Quote of the Fic
> 
> "The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value."  
> -Charles Dudley Warner


End file.
